MAHA Commission Draws Swift Criticism, Condemnation

February 18, 2025The Trump administration’s recently established Make America Healthy Again Commission has come under fire from medical experts and patient advocacy groups for singling out autism spectrum disorder and ADHD, saying the “over-utilization of medication” for those and other conditions “pose a dire threat to the American people and our way of life.” The commission, which will be chaired by the newly confirmed director of Health and Human Services, Robert F.

Kennedy, Jr., a vocal anti-vaccine advocate, says it aims to end ADHD, autism, and other chronic health conditions with “fresh thinking on nutrition, physical activity, healthy lifestyles, over-reliance on medication and treatments, the effects of new technological habits, environmental impacts, and food and drug quality and safety.”Almost immediately, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) condemned what it called the stigmatizing language and stated purpose of the commission, which established a 100-day mission to:“We know from the evidence and from our own clinical practice that the psychiatric drugs mentioned in the order, when prescribed and used as directed by properly trained psychiatrists, are safe, effective, and in some cases, lifesaving,” wrote APA CEO and Medical Director Marketa M.

Wills, M.D., in an email to members on February 14. “APA stands for evidence-based science and will protect the treatments and practices that are so vital to many children and adolescents suffering from mental and substance use disorders.”In its own statement, the autistic advocacy group ASAN wrote: “The proposed plan is full of attempts to research thoroughly debunked science, states goals that run counter to the actual.